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is Computer Science the same as Software Engineering or Software Development? If it is then sure, this article makes a fair point, but I've always thought these

is Computer Science the same as Software Engineering or Software Development? If it is then sure, this article makes a fair point, but I've always thought these were related but distinct things. And if they are in fact distinct, then Computer Science is the part that is Applied Mathematics by another name. But really, all of this is just quibbling about semantics.

xcallmejudasx 14y ago
As much as I agree that everyone is just quibbling about semantics it is something that needs to be finalized and agreed on. In some states it's illegal to say you're an engineer unless you specifically have an engineering degree. Most CS degrees are offered as a science degree with an alternate Software Engineering degree being an engineering degree. There's also a noticeable gap in what you're taught depending on which path you take. Friends of mine who majored in software engineering ended up learning more practical languages, how to use source control, software engineering practices, and never had to take a class related to the theory side of it. Whereas half of my classes were information theory, and abstract or theory based math classes. Does this make them better programmers because they know more languages and tools? That's subjective. However, there are times when you need a computer scientist and not a software engineer but most companies and even developers themselves couldn't tell you the difference between the two. Purely hypothetical at this point but suppose you were tasked with creating the first ring based authentication system. This involves a decent understanding of group theory . I don't doubt for a second that a software engineer would be able to accomplish this after first teaching them self about group theory but my first bet would be to go to the person with the CS training. Sure they might not be able to code it as well but once the idea has been developed and proven to be mathematically sound it can just be sent off to the engineer.

xcallmejudasx 14y ago

As much as I agree that everyone is just quibbling about semantics it is something that needs to be finalized and agreed on. In some states it's illegal to say you're an engineer unless you specifically have an engineering degree. Most CS degrees are offered as a science degree with an alternate Software Engineering degree being an engineering degree. There's also a noticeable gap in what you're taught depending on which path you take. Friends of mine who majored in software engineering ended up learning more practical languages, how to use source control, software engineering practices, and never had to take a class related to the theory side of it. Whereas half of my classes were information theory, and abstract or theory based math classes. Does this make them better programmers because they know more languages and tools? That's subjective. However, there are times when you need a computer scientist and not a software engineer but most companies and even developers themselves couldn't tell you the difference between the two. Purely hypothetical at this point but suppose you were tasked with creating the first ring based authentication system. This involves a decent understanding of group theory . I don't doubt for a second that a software engineer would be able to accomplish this after first teaching them self about group theory but my first bet would be to go to the person with the CS training. Sure they might not be able to code it as well but once the idea has been developed and proven to be mathematically sound it can just be sent off to the engineer.